New skatepark set to replace Vans at Festival Bay

A young skateboarder rides one of the inside bowls at Vans Skatepark… (Jacob Langston, Orlando…)

December 13, 2012|By Sandra Pedicini, Orlando Sentinel

A New York company plans to open Radbourne Skatepark at Festival Bay Mall in March, replacing the popular Vans skateboarding arena that closed in January.

"It's going to be way better than it was," said Tim Payne, whose Winter Springs-based skateboard design company Team Pain is working on the project. "Everything's going to be new and updated."

New York-based Radbourne Property Group will develop and operate the skatepark, which will get a complete makeover. It will include a room in which kids can watch videos of action sports and a shop similar to what Vans had, said John Van Clief, managing partner at Radbourne.

Van Clief said he is also in discussions with Athena Learning Center, a New Jersey-based tutoring company, to open one of its franchises within the skatepark property or next to it.

Radbourne Property Group plans to build many other skateparks after it opens the first in Orlando. The company has bought four other skateparks around the country and intends to reopen them under the new Radbourne brand, Van Clief said.

Van Clief said his group would like to also build an action sports theme park in Orlando within the next three years, though he said it was too early to provide details.

Skateboarders were devastated when Vans closed the popular park at Festival Bay earlier this year. Vans and the management at Festival Bay gave conflicting information about why the skatepark closed. But Paragon Outlet Partners, which purchased Festival Bay in 2010, said Vans' closing would make planned redevelopment of the almost-vacant center easier.

Since then, Paragon principal Nick King said Thursday, "we've been able to work our plan so we can save the skateboard location. We know it was important to the community."

King said his company slowed down redevelopment of Festival Bay as it focused on opening outlet centers in other parts of the country. But Paragon should unveil plans for the new center in the next couple of months, he said, and redevelopment should be complete late next year.